GENERAL55787

• Permit No: M1999002
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 8/18/1998
• Doc Name: COMMERCIAL MINE PLAN SUBMITTED TO BLM SECTION 8
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Site. Limited habitat loss will be associated with the long-term use of approximately
• 6.5 acres for the Piceance Site processing facilities area plus approximately 14 acres
for the Piceance Site evaporation pond. These areas would only be reclaimed
sometime in the distant future at the end of the commercial mining phase. Larger
areas would be temporarily lost as mule deer wintering habitat in the development
of the commercial well field, but particular mining areas ("5-year mining panels,"
see Section 2.1.1.2) would be lost as functioning habitat for a much shorter period of
time. As indicated in Section 2.1.1.2, the amount of land that could be disturbed
within each of the 5-year mining panels ranges from 125 acres to 209 acres and
averages about 172 acres (see Figure 2-1 and Table 2-1). Actual land disturbance
within each mining panel will be much less, but it will be significant.
Staged reclamation of the solution mining well field as each mining panel is retired
will minimize the size of mule deer wintering habitat loss within the well field at
any one time throughout the project life. As described in Section 6.2, it is likely that
reclamation of a particular mining panel will not commence until the end of that 5-
year mining interval. Usable forage is expected to be reestablished within 5 to 10
years after initiation of revegetation efforts. Therefore, at any one time, mule deer
wintering habitat loss in the well field will roughly approximate the size of two to
three of the 5-year mining panels. For example, up to 160 acres of habitat would be
impacted in the first 5 years of solution mining (see Table 2-1). This area would
begin to be reclaimed during the following mining interval (years 5 through 10), and
• its return to functioning wintering habitat should have been at least partially
achieved by the 10- to 15-year mining interval. As discussed in Section 8.5, eventual
recolonization of reclaimed areas by native vegetation and natural successional
processes will be important in the long-term re-establishment of mule deer
wintering habitat at the Piceance Site.
It should be noted that much of the habitat within a mining panel will not be
subject to direct surface disturbance. Even when a mining panel is in full
development, it will provide some habitat and forage. Mule deer frequently have
high tolerance to structures and limited human activity . It is probable that mule
deer will make some use of the mining panels while they are in production. The
degree of use is difficult to estimate, but it would be a function of the degree of
human activity at any given time and the availability of forage and habitat in
surrounding areas. Because structures will be removed and activity will be reduced
at the end of mining, mule deer use is expected to increase in the mining panels
immediately after a panel is retired and reclamation is initiated.
The mining panels are relatively small areas on isolated ridgetops, and they would
be developed sequentially over time. In general, only one ridgetop at a time would
be potentially unavailable to migrating deer. Given the regional scale at which
migrations occur, development of the well field is unlikely to have any impacts on
major seasonal migratory patterns.
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American Soda, L.L.P. 8_1(3
Commercial Mine Plan
Aurusl 18, 1998